Review: Review: Coloursound Album

The Alarm Alarm 2000 Collection 21ST CENTURY 21C018 Much derided, even in their heyday, The Alarm suffered from a tendancy to wear their influences (Clash, U2, Dylan) all too obviously on their sleeves. Their songs sometimes struggled clumsily to contain frontman Mike Peters’ big-hearted righteous visions, but when it all clicked together (68 Guns, Blaze of Glory) their stomping rock lit up a moribund ’80s musical landscape. Immaculately packaged and [read more]

The Limit club is packed to the rafters with over-aged and under-aged punks, hippies and students whose enthusiasm is seemingly unbounded. As the evening progresses the sick, smoky atmosphere gets denser and condensation begins to run down the walls and drip off the roof. The Alarm bounce into view and throw themselves into their set with a burning passion, to an instantly wild response from the crowd. Their stance is [read more]

Mike Peters, former banner-waving, rabble-rousing scout leader of The Alarm, returns with an LP of rare Alarm songs re-recorded for the ’90s. Sounds like a nightmare. Except that stripped of some of The Alarm’s pomposity, the 10 tracks-which range back to the very start of the Rhyl quartet’s career-sound surprisingly human. Forget for a second the frightened, on-end haircuts and tassled jackets and the result is a likably strummy set, [read more]